Sophomore third baseman Kadin Porter during the Tigers' game against the Coronado Cougars on Thursday at Justin Field. Cañon City won the game 11-1. (Brandon Hopper / Daily Record)

The Tigers got the first game out of the way Thursday and they got their first W, too.

A year after the Cañon City baseball team had its season end abruptly, the Tigers are back in the win column.

Lucas Bufmack pitched four strong innings and two of his fellow seniors each knocked two hits in the Tigers' 11-1 win against the Coronado Cougars at Justin Field.

Zach Manchester and Dante Teigen each had two hits. Manchester's were two doubles and Teigen notched a triple and had three RBIs.

"We haven't had a whole lot of live hitting," Teigen said. "We've been trying to get that during practices with scrimmages a lot. Just the little bit we've had has been helping us a whole lot instead of doing (batting practice), underhand toss, slow pitch."

Cañon City (1-0) has met Coronado in the last six seasons for a non-league, early season contest. The Tigers are 6-0 in those games including several one-run victories.

Cañon City ran the Colorado Springs Metro League table last season and entered the postseason with a 16-3 record. They lost in the first round of the state tournament after being seeded 18th — the CSML isn't a strong league.

The Tigers scored two unearned runs in the first inning. With two outs, Cameron Brosh flied deep to right field but the Cougars outfielder misplayed what should've been the third out. A walk to Teigen led to sophomore Kadin Porter ripping a two-run double to left-center field.

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Manchester, Brosh and Teigen led off the third inning with double, double triple to supply three more runs.

Zac Hanenberg scored three runs in the game — one as a courtesy runner, one as a pinch runner and one after he singled in the fifth inning.

Nine-hole hitter Luke Nethercot also had two hits including a double in the fifth inning to deep left field. His courtesy runner, Brandon Farnsworth, scored the run to enact the 10-run mercy rule.

"We had some decent approaches," head coach Tim Ritter said. "... I like the way we executed some approaches at the plate. When we had guys in scoring position, I think we did a good job of putting the ball in play. I think we only had one strikeout when a guy was at third."

Despite the unearned run the Cougars got in the first inning, Cañon City's defense played well. Left-fielder Teigen nailed a runner at the plate to end the fourth inning.

With the bases loaded in the fifth inning, relief pitcher Nethercot induced a groundball to Brosh who started a 4-6-3 double play to Hanenberg and first baseman Trace Hildebrand.

Manchester caught a runner trying to steal second base in the second inning.

Bufmack's pitching performance was strong. He never let the Cougars get much offense rolling. His lone mistake was a hit by pitch in the second inning that came around to score thanks to a throwing error. Bufmack allowed four hits, struck out three and walked one.

"He looked good," his catcher Manchester said. "He got us out of those innings when they got a guy on base. I felt like he was comfortable up on the mound."

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